swim team pic

2012 Aqua Demon picture

another recap

Last week was busy, and I don't even have any pictures to go with it!  Last Monday I got a much-needed haircut.  In fact, I cut about half my hair off.  I've been salon-hopping this year, and the poor stylist was so nervous to cut it. That afternoon we went to the library and ran a couple local errands.  Tuesday I had a windshield chip repaired, and then we ran our big errands. Wednesday we had a pool day!  Amelia is now swimming all the time, even in the deep end, without her swim belt.   She can out-dive most of Seth's age group on the swim team!  Thursday morning we went to see How To Train Your Dragon as part of the $2 summer movie series.  I had never seen it all the way through before.  Isn't that crazy?  That afternoon we saw the Balloon Lady at the library.  Friday we had a lazy morning at home, Seth had a play date, we went to the pool and almost immediately got thundered out.  Saturday, Nathan did yard work and I did laundry and stuff intermittently between Olympic events.  I'm not sure how they expect me to get stuff done during the day now! Go USA!

tubing down the river

Back in the spring I bought a groupon for tubing down the New River in Todd, NC.  Summer is slipping  away from us, so Sunday we decided to go use it.  Nathan's parents drove over and joined us.  It was a beautiful day in the NC mountains, and we all enjoyed our hour-plus mosey down the river.

Meet Petunia.  She is the 320-lb pet pig of the outfitter.  The picture doesn't do her justice.  The poor thing is so fat, she literally sighs with relief when she lays down!

so long, swim team!

This weekend our pool hosted the swim team championships for the six teams in our division.  Because I worked the concession tent on Friday night, we already knew the lay of the land before we got there Saturday morning.  During warm-ups, we found out one of Seth's relay members had woken up with a fever, so the boys had to scratch their first event.  Seth was a little upset about it, but it gave him some extra time to watch the girls swim with his dad.  Then he joined the team and played catch waiting for his individual event. This is his first time in a corral:

Waiting for his individual event...

He did a decent dive and swam one of his better times, but he placed 13th overall, so he didn't qualify for the all-star meet, which is fine, because I think that would be a little more competition than he could handle.  That night we had the swim team picnic, and Seth received the Breaststroke Award...it will be so nice next year when he's actually able to race breaststroke, because he's a natural!  Freestyle does not come easy to him, although he has improved a lot this year.

And the best part...for the rest of the summer, we only go to the pool to PLAY!

hair we go again!

Well, it wouldn't be summer without some sort of unnecessary calamity, right?  Wednesday night I left the kids watching a movie on the couch and went up to the guest room for no more than 10 minutes.  I met Amelia in the hallway, where she said,  "Mom, I need to go to Great Clips tomorrow", and I noticed this:

"What have you done????!!!!???"

"I was trying to cut the brown out, because your brown hair is ugly."

It was not a nice evening.  In the morning, I washed and dried it, and decided there was nothing they could do at the hair  salon to fix it.  We made an emergency trip to Walmart and bought 10 stretchy headbands in a variety of colors, and I will not let her leave the house without one.

It was like a combo of the "last straw" with Seth (when he painted his room in poop), and when he told me I was not a match because I didn't have blond hair.  Now my only hope is that it grows really fast so we can get a little touch-up done before preschool starts in September!

sleeping in

For the first time in their short lives, not one, but both of my kids are sleeping past 7am on a daily basis, and usually, it's after 7:30 for at least one of them.  It's no wonder, though, I think I can count the number of lazy days we've had on one hand.  Last Monday we went and checked out the new-and-improved Tanglewood pool.  They have added a splash pad, a lazy river, and two new water slides.  We had a blast and Amelia fell asleep on the couch after we got home.  Tuesday=errand day.  After swim team and lunch we made a mad dash around town in an attempt to get every necessary errand done.  Our last stop was to get Amelia a new mattress:

Wednesday Seth had a playdate and we went to the pool.  Thursday Seth had his check-up and we went to the pool.  Friday morning the kids had a playdate, and then we went to the trampoline park.  The kids had a blast.

Then we were home for all of 30 minutes and it was time for me to go work the concession booth at the swim team championships.  The kids "helped" me sell drinks until Nathan was able to come after work.  They are always in bed by 9, it's just taking them 10+ hours to recharge their batteries.  For the first time ever, I'm nervous about them waking up refreshed when school starts, but with the Olympics starting later this week, I'm not ready to enforce an earlier bedtime yet.  That can wait a month or so...

dusted these off...

These were taken about a hundred years ago when we went to Gatlinburg for a fraternity social.  The kids think they are hilarious.

12 year ago today...

My work history, in a nutshell.

Sometime in January 2000, I had my first job interview with HR on a Friday morning.  I had spent the night with my parents the night before picking up data for my senior research project and then drove here for an interview.  That night I worked at 12 hour shift in an adult ICU back in Hickory.  I was on an odd schedule that semester.  

In February, I had an interview with the nurse manager, and woke up in the middle of the night to see almost six inches of snow on the ground.  I got up early and drove like a snail, the one hour drive taking me almost two.  I originally interviewed for PICU, but the unit terrified me.  The manager showed me the NICU, even though I wasn't interested.  By the end of the week, she had offered me a job, my pick.  Twelve hour nights in PICU, 8- or 12-hour nights in NICU, or NICU evening shift.

I accepted the evening shift.  I didn't like my NICU rotation in college, but I liked the layout of the NICU.  There would always be someone else with me if I needed help.  I had been around babies my entire life.  My sorority's philanthropy was the March of Dimes.  I was learning ventilators in the adult ICU.  This could work out.  And if I didn't like it, I'd transfer to another unit after six months.

I graduated in May, took an NCLEX review course mandated by the nursing school in which I did worse on the post-test than I did on the pretest, and moved into an apartment with a nursing school friend.  We spent the rest of May and most of June studying.  I drove to Gastonia to take the boards, and the machine cut off after 75 questions, the minimum it was possible to take.  And then I sweated bullets waiting for the automated test results to become available.  (The technology was there for you to find out instantly, they just like to make you sweat).  I even had to wait a few extra days due to the Fourth of July holiday.  Finally, calling from my grandparents' house in Warroad, I whooped with joy when I found out I passed.  

I started hospital orientation on July 10, and on July 17, I walked onto the unit in scrubs for the first time.  Funny story.  I forgot my watch the first morning and turned around to get it, only to find out you couldn't wear watches in the NICU.  I'm 99% sure I have never worn a watch since.  My first day EW was my preceptor, and the very first thing I did was put down a feeding tube.  It was all novel, and much more interesting than I expected.  For the next three months, I had two regular preceptors.  KB, you were such a role model to me.  You gave me the solid foundation I needed to handle whatever my shift brought me in later years.  My shifts with LL were always full of chaos, to the point she used to say, "Please don't quit." (I have paid that type of orientation forward to several others...it makes you a better nurse.)

After spending the summer on day shift, by fall I was ready to learn what to do on evening shift.  In the twelve years I have worked there, evening shift is always a fun shift.  The shift is always much better friends than any other, girls genuinely enjoy being together, even when they aren't at work.  It was a fun shift to work in 2000, and it was still a fun shift to work in 2012.  

Nurses have a history of eating their young, but our unit isn't that way.  After six months, I felt like I maybe knew what I was doing.  After a year, I couldn't believe I thought I knew stuff before that.  After two years, I settled into a groove, which coincided with me getting a day shift position.  By being present in rounds, you're able to learn all the whys of why your doing what you're doing.  I started working extra shifts whenever they needed me, sometimes working 60+ hours a week.  Nurses get close, because there are some weeks you spend way more time with your coworkers than you do with your family.  I have been with these ladies through boyfriends, engagements, weddings, divorces, babies, miscarriages, sicknesses of family members, deaths of loved ones.  Just as some people have work spouses, I have had work moms, and older sisters, and younger sisters, and BFFs. 

I worked up to two days before I had Seth (at a different hospital).  I had lots of coworkers come visit us at the hospital, and while I was on maternity leave.  When my twelve weeks were up, I went back to work part-time on evening shift.  That schedule suited our lifestyle until Amelia was six months old, at which point I started working prn.  That status only required me to work 16 hours a month, although I usually worked more.  It allowed us to only need 3 hours of baby-sitting a week, and then no baby-sitters once Seth started kindergarten.  The schedule suited us all through Nathan's half-ironman training, after which I was able to be a little more flexible about when I could work.  

During the winter change started brewing, and I started working once in the evening and once during preschool.  By spring I was only able to work the preschool shift.  I will be forever grateful to my boss for allowing me to do that this spring.  It was very hard to say goodbye to the job I loved, and those shifts were my way of processing it.  My last shift was in mid-May.  Our summer has been really crazy, so I haven't missed the shifts, or even the meager paycheck, but I miss doing something important, and I miss my girls.  I have seen people come and people go, and I guess I got so comfy I never thought it'd be me.  If you think about it, I've been going there waaaaay longer than I've ever gone anywhere else in my life.  Heck, I went to six different schools in the same span of time!  

oh, the mess

After months of keeping the house clean, we decided to live a little this weekend.  Friday night Amelia brought down all her dress up clothes and all her stuffed animals, and we didn't say a word.  By lunch on Sunday, the arts and crafts been had been dusted off in the basement and you couldn't see the kitchen table or any of the counter space.  Amelia wore no less than a dozen outfits on Sunday alone.  And then we watched our neighbors' daughters for two hours, resulting in the inability to find the floor in Amelia's room.  I'm afraid leaving the house "show ready" all the time has made me a little bit AR about the kitchen.  I got up early this morning and got it back ship-shape.  Poor Seth asked for the vacuum for his room, and now Amelia is cleaning hers.  There has got to be some sort of happy medium...I'm sure we'll find it again someday.

last week

We've taken busy to a whole 'nother level.  On Monday, we had our annual pool day with the cousins.  This year, we went to their pool.  Bonus points this year because Grandma Sarah joined us:

Then we drove home just in time for swim team.  Tuesday morning I swam laps, we ran errands, and then we had a swim meet.  Wednesday:  swim team, errands, and then we headed to Gram and Pops' for another sleepover.  Thursday night Nathan and I had our first date since the day of the Super Bowl, and we went to Boston Market.  Jealous, huh?  Friday I picked up the kids and we headed home.  Yesterday, Seth went to Ice Age 4 for a friend's birthday.  The rest of us wanted to see it too, so we went to the movie in a different theater!  And today?  Well, today we're worthless.  We might make it to the pool.  Of course, we might not...

neck pillows

Thursday the kids and I had a sleepover at Gram and Pops' house.  Colette is going for a little vacation...it is too hot for her to sit in the car right now when we have to leave for showings.  Anyways, we have been going full steam ahead for the past month, and it's starting to catch up with us.  You know Seth is tired when he asks for a nighttime snuggle, and then a jealous little sister had to join in:

The kids loved the neck pillow my parents had in their car, and that night I had found el-cheapo ones at Target for $2.50.  Check out how they were using them when I went to bed!

Don't worry.  I moved the pillows after I took the pictures.

beating the heat

We have had a few days where it has been insanely hot.  Our strategy to beat the heat has been to stay inside as much as possible and then hit the pool after dinner.  So far, so good.  On Sunday afternoon, we went bowling for the cost of chicken tenders, because we used Kids Bowl Free and a groupon. Fantastic.  It was by no means Nathan's or my best games, but we had fun and the kids bowled two games without the aid of a ramp.

7.4.12

We spent the Fourth at home this year, and we had a blast!  Tuesday afternoon the kids and I dressed up their bikes for the bike parade.  There was no contest this year, but it was really festive.  Here are Seth and Nickolas pre-parade:

Amelia wanted to ride her big girl bike, and she made it around the 1-mile loop, with only a handful of complaints about sore legs.

The pool opened at 10, and we shared a tent with our neighborhood buddies.  Amelia is no longer a swim team mascot.  She is now a lifeguard-in-training:

During each pool break, there was some sort of zany game.  The first was the t-shirt relay:

Later in the day, the lifeguards threw drinks and Airheads into pool.  Amelia is swimming about 90% of the time without her float on, but I made her wear her belt since it was all kids and no adults in the pool.  She grabbed a Dr. Pepper and got back out.  An older boy grabbed her an Airhead since they sunk to the bottom.

The last contest was the biggest splash contest.  Seth got out in the first round of his age bracket.  After the kids' contest was done, they did the daddy bracket.  Nathan made it to the finals, and then had a side-by-side splash off with this guy:

Nathan came in second.

Our original plan was to stay at the pool until 2.  At 4pm we finally packed up and dragged ourselves home.  We were all in bed by 9, and I know I didn't see 9:15.  It was great to have a full day at the pool.  We have been so busy, we're only able to fit in 2-hour swims here and there.

VBS

I waited until almost the last minute to sign the kids up for Vacation Bible School.  Within 12 hours I was asked to be a teacher, which I said I would do under two conditions: I would have flexibility if something came up with the house, and I would not be Amelia's teacher.  A day later, another teacher popped up and I was asked to be a floater.  All right.  On the first day of VBS, I was assigned the official title of snack helper.  Divvy-ing out snacks and making large amounts of Kool-Aid?  I can handle that.  The kids seemed to have a great time during the week, and they are still singing the theme song.

June swim meets

We missed the first swim meet while we were on vacation, but we have had three in the past two weeks.  The birthday cut-off is June 1st, so Seth is swimming in the 6U division, but that is fine, because he's gaining confidence by being one of the older kids in his group, and he gets to swim with his best buds:

Amelia and Michelle are finding plenty to occupy themselves with, and we're not having to bribe them as much with candy as we did last year!

In the last two meets, Seth has swam up in a 9-10 free relay.  His relay has of course come in last against all big boys, but the coaches have told him he's helping to get points for the team.  The past two meets he has had his best time in the individual free event.  On Tuesday he was only half a second shy of his dad's earliest documented time!  (Although in all honesty, he's got a ways to go with technique.  He's starting to let Nathan help him.  We'll see if that lasts.)

 The three amigos on Thursday:

The 9-10 relay is event number 74 of 80.  Normally we're done after event 22, and we don't stick around to watch the rest of the meet.  Thursday we stayed to the end, and the Aqua Demons won a home meet, which meant cannonballs in the pool and throwing the coaches in!  First post-meet celebration: